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2004-03-10Commission Members John D. Kenney, Chairman Michnel P. Pierce, Vice Chairman Marianne M. Doane Eileen R. Duff Gary M. Lambert Martin J. Lawler, III Elliott C. Margolis Ida Beaver, Recording Secretary BEVERLY GOLF & TENNIS COMMISSION 1:34 McKay Street BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS 01915 March 26, 2004 Minutes of Monthly Meeting March 10, 2004 Present: John Kenney, Chairman; Michael Pierce, Vice Chairman; Martin Lawler; Gary Lambert, and Elliott Margolis. Absent: Eileen Duffand Marianne Doane Guests: Doug Johnson (Johnson Golf Management); Steve Follensbee (Attorney for Johnson Golf Management); Peter Iovanni (Men's Association); Joe Devito (President of the Men's Association); and Tom Smith (Golf pro). Call to'Order: Mr. Kenney called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm and welcomed the guests. Next, a motion was made by Mike Pierce.to accept the minutes of the previous meeting of February 11, 2004. Marty Lawler seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved. Facilities: The Monthly Income and Expense Reports for February were handed out. Mr. Lawler noted that $9,900 was spent for the upstairs carpeting and $4,390 was spent for fixing the pipe. There is an ending balance of $32,490. He stated that the current status of the .. veranda project expenses is completed. There are authorized bills in the amount of approximately $2,000 that have to be paid, leaving about $30,000 minus $8,800 for authorized improvements, therebyleaving about $21,000 for the next four months. Mr. Kenney then asked for a motion to accept the Monthly Income and Expense Reports. The motion was made by Mike Pierce and seconded by Elliot Margolis and passed with all in favor. Next, Mr. Kenney said that since there is no money coming from the City to keep the pool open, and that there are so many repairs needed along with ADA compliance issues, that he, John Dunn and Bruce Doig suggest that the pool should be permanently closed. John Dunn was going to ask Mike Collins of the Public Works department if they had heavy equipment to break up the concrete deck. Beverly Golf & Tennis Commission Minutes of thc March 2004 Monthly Meeting Page 2 of 2 A motion to close the pool was made by Elliott Margolis and seconded by Marty Lawler. After some discussion this motion was amended to permanently close and fill in the pool upon receipt of a letter of assent from Johnson Golf. This motion passed with one abstention. Mr. Kenney will send a letter to the City Council informing them that the Commission along with the advice and consent of Johnson Golf voted to permanently close the pool. He will attach Johnson Golf's letter of assent. A discussion of the capital plan proposal of On-Site Insight was tabled for a future meeting. . There was an estimate of $1,900 for tree work to be done behind hole #1. Mr. Johnson said that he would get an estimate for the installation of netting along the 15th hole. Policy and Grievance: There were no more requests for leaves of absence. Mr. Johnson stated that the membership is at 297. Old Business: Mr. Kermey said that the waiting list should the opened up, however people paid $225 to get on the list which eniitled them at the time to defer their membership when their name came up, and their name went to the bottom of the list. This has caused some confusion, because some people's names have been recycled more than once. Mr. Kenney said the list needed to be cleaned up so that only those people who are serious about becoming a member should be on it. Mr. Johnson said that he would send out letters to those people for whom he had addresses. Mr. Lambert wanted to know if there was a wait list policy. Mr. Kenney said that no, but the Policy and Grievance subcommittee should draft one, and he then asked Mr. Lambert to be on the subcommittee. Marty Lawler suggested having a new wait list and let the old list dissolve as it may. When the people come up on the old list they Should be told to either get in now or get in on the new list. Mr. Kenney said that the subcommittee would take that suggestion into consideration. New Business: Mr. Kenney handed out Johnson Golf Management's response to the 2004 overview. Mr. Johnson explained his response section by section. (attached) He also passed out Johnson Golf Management's Proposed Capital Projects. (attached) Mr. Johnson noted that this proposed list is extensive and needs to be prioritized. He stated that a master plan should be developed with a golf course architect. Marry Lawler asked Doug Johnson to get a price for the repairs or get someone to fix the ceiling, leak upstairs. Beverly Golf & Tennis Commission Minutes of thc March 2004 Monthly Meeting Page 3 of 3 Adjournment: Marly Lawler made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 p.m. Elliott Margolis seconded the motion with all in favor. The next Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 14, 2004, at 7:00 p.m. at the Beverly Golf & Tennis Club. Respectfully Submitted, Ida Beaver Recording Secretary Johnson Golf Management Inc. P.O. Box 126 · Weston, MA 02493 Phone 781-736-0601 - Fax 781-736-7956 www.johnsongolfrnanagement.com February28, 2004 To: Beverly Golf & Tennis Commission Re: Response to Overview 2004 In response to the Commission's Overview, I submit the following: Sections #1, #2 - Under our contract the City does receive much more money than it did under previous contract(s), however it is unclear if there is a consistent commitment from the City to put money back in to the golf course and building. Section #3 - I have no knowledge or response to this. Section #4 - I agree with all capital improvements listed. Section #5 - It is my belief that all appointments must be approved by JGM. If the Commission or the City do not agree pursuit to the Settlement agreement we will go back to Judge Todd for an interpretation. Section #6 - The final management contract was approved of by Judge Todd as part of the settlement between the City and JGM. Please keep in mind that whatever changes took place from the original RFP were done as pat of the settlement instead of monetary damages resulting from JGM prevailing in thc lawsuit. I don't believe that the Commission or JGM should care what Friel alleges. Section #7- The Commission is correct that some thinks are not clearly defined. Examples are: 1) there is no mention of having to aerate or topdress the greens. -These cultural practices are critical to the greens achieving proper condition. 2) There as a mention of who is responsible if an act of god occurs to the golf course, such as a hurricane, flooding,.trees uprooting, winter damage, etc. As for the five points that the Commission mentions, I believe this is an attempt to "micromanage." All of those items mentioned are addressed as standard procedure. South Shore CC inhaling City O.C. HIghlartd G.C. North Hill I strongly disagree with the statement by the Commission member who suggests that our relationship with Ms. Doane and permit holders is contentious. First of all, no one has identified any permit holders with whom we are "controversial." There is no "controversy." There are rules, regulations, policies and procedures. Everyone is treated professionally, honestly and fairly by JGM. Perhaps what is contentious is that Ms. Doane and some small number of permit holders did as they pleased in the past. As for Ms. Doane, it is no secret that most of her actions on the Commission are to serve her interest as a permit holder rather than what is best for the city of Beverly taxpayers. An example of this occurred when she approached me personally to ask if the women would receive free greens fees for their guest for the member-guest tournament. When ! told her no, she responded that it would be "goodwill" on my part to do so. I wonder how the City would have reacted if they operated the golf course? In the spring of 2003 Ms. Doane. was quoted in the newspapers and she chose to denigrate the conditioning of golf course because of the weather. The comment that the "course conditions were dreadful in 2003" is ridiculous. As every Commission member knows the United States Golf Association visits the golf course every year to evaluate the conditions. Every commission member was invited to attend. Three did, but one leR after 12 holes, perhaps because that person didn't like what they were hearing. The Commission has full access to the USGA reports and to make the statement that "it is not clear if it was solely related to the weather" (referring to the 2003 spring damage) is contentious and misleading. Our company worked hard and brought 18 winterkilled greens back by the middle of June. Green #1 has a history of being bad every year. Is that "unclear" too? We have proposed to the Commission to rebuild the 1st gram, but no action has been taken. As a matter of fact, there has not been one penny of the City's money put into the golf course since we have been here. Meanwhile, our compnny has spent over $225,000 for new equipment, proper fuel storage and a number of other projects. The settlement does encourage the commission and JGM to make the course more open to the public. We are trying to implement that policy and the Commission should be working for that also. Beverly Golf & Tennis Club is not a private country club. In addition, it is illegal to have blocked off tee times on a municipal golf course which used public funding. The contract does allow for a member to bring up to three guests. This policy will always remain. To say the policy is not policed, I respond and say who should be doing the policing? You all know the permit holders have been making their own tee times as a group in our time as was past practice. I have mentioned to you and the men's and ladies 1 The USGA confirmed that the winter conditions in 2002-2003 were among the worst in history. attached USGA publications which were delivered to the Committee last summer. groups that we can intervene and run all times with a mandatory call in but you do not want to do that. So who is putting this "negative impact" on the women golfers? As for outings other than Mondays there are very few and they have been past practice as well. Example, the Beverly Chamher of Commerce has always had their outing on a Thursday. When there is a Monday holiday, we are entitled to host an outing on another day during the week. The Charity outings were incorporated by JGM. We felt this would good public relations for the City and us. To suggest it doesn't cost anything is ridiculous. The golf course generates revenue every day. What do you think we would do? Close the course down? That would never occur. As for the food and beverage operation, we assume full responsibility for the operation. "Par for the Course" is gone, period. We are operating the Food and Beverage. Peter Harrison occurred are his problem, not yours. Please tell me what creditors expect the City of Beverly to pay his bills. That is contentious. It is true that we could not reach terms to outsource the F & B operation to an upscale operation like the Hawthorne. The reason was because the clubhouse has been rundown for years with no money put back into it, just like the golf course, pool and tennis courts. Very few people are interested in going to the club duing the winter months because the place is a dump. The bulk of our business comes during the golf season when there is activity. There are many projects which need to be done to altract people. Section #8 I agree with this Section #9 - As stated, the tee times are made by the Mens and Womens groups. Section #10, #11, #12- No comment In closing, as I have previously stated, JGM, the Commission and the City should be working together to make the club something we all can be proud of. Instead there is a clear agenda by a few people to cause problems because of the lawsuit. It is time to move on; we have. People don't like change, especially when it affects benefits that they used to get. The club should be for everyone to use and enjoy and be comfortable. BEVERLY GOLF and TENNIS CLUB PROPOSED CAPITAL PROJECTS SUBMITTED: March 10, 2004 In our two years of operating the club we have evaluated the complete facility and offer 1he following as projects that need to be addressed. Our company has invested approximately $250,000 in to turf equipment, above ground fuel storage and fenced pen area, painting of the pro shop, painting of the clubhouse and many turf cultural practices above and beyond the contract. We have also participated in brush and tree removal according to the USGA reports. In our two years, not one penny has been spent on the golf course. · · GOLF COURSE 1) Develop a master plan with a golf course architect. (We submitted a list of architects and prices in the fall of 2003. No action was taken 2) Rebuild the first grean. This green is a perennial problem from winter damage. This has been presented to the Commission a number of times and no action bas been taken. 3) Bunker renovation and restoration. As pointed out previously by us and the USGA their should be a plan in place to tackle this project. 4) Drainage. Refer to the USGA report a set budget should be put aside each year for drainage. 5) Tree work. Again, the three USGA reports point this out 6) A fence behind the third green area. This area is notorious for vandalism. The fence would deter. 7) Cart paths. Again a yearly budget is needed. 8) On course restrooms and snack area. 9) Irrigation system evaluation The present system is outdated and will become a bigger problem in the future. 1O) Driving Range plan. 11 ) Address fencing issues to protect the course from neighbors 12) Possible removal of the swimming pool and moving a putting green to the pool area. 13) Re-landscaping the pro shop-putting green area to replace the overgrown shrubbery that exists. 14) Purchase greens covers. 15) First and Second hole project to take borings of hills to possibly renovate to develop removal of a blind hole. 16) A new Maintenance Building. 17) Install a bell for hole # 16 18) A new cart building CLUBHOUSE 1) Replace the heating and cooling systems to become adequate. (These systems do not provictc enough heat in the winter or cooling in the summer for proper operation) 2) A program each to winter to replace flooring and carpeting. 4) New furniture. The current furniture is a disgrace 5) Building repairs. Presently there are roof leaks. 1) Develop the last two court areas to become playable 2) A new tennis pro shop that would be ADA compliant 3) Newlandscaping and patio area In closing there are many more smaller projects that could be considered. The Beverly Golf and Tennis Club has been neglected for years in every aspect of the operation. I believe it is the responsibility of us to report to the Commission and to keep the City aware and up to date as to the condition of their asset.